More Americans renounce citizenship—2014 is on on pace for a record http://t.co/uSD4yqLKzs via @WSJpersfinance – and 2015 will be higher!
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) October 24, 2014
The article includes:
Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world. The rule dates to the Civil War. U.S. tax liabilities can also cover children born to Americans abroad, extending the reach of the Internal Revenue Service across generations as well as oceans. There are only partial offsets for double taxation for people who owe taxes both to the U.S. and a foreign country, and the reporting rules are onerous, experts say.
For decades these laws were rarely enforced. Now, scrutiny of Americans abroad is intensifying because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, which Congress passed in 2010. The law’s main provisions, which took effect in July, will require foreign financial institutions to report income of their U.S. customers to the IRS.
Comments are open, at least for now.
This batch includes Nona Coniglio – if you’ve lost Grandma Bunny, you’ve definitely lost the room.
The new list is unofficially available
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-25412.pdf
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/10/27/2014-25412/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate
and shows about 776 names.
Ah- the wall of shame. Shame on America.
More well deserved one finger salutes to Uncle Sam. The freedom list just keeps getting bigger. Congratulations to all everyone on the list.
The Democrats’ continued mistreatment of expats may just be enough to tip the scales in this year’s midterm as well as the 2016 presidential elections.
The Dems appear to have grossly miscalculated the expat vote as well as their campaign donations. Oops, thought you could get away with screwing 7.6 million Americans living abroad without anyone noticing. Those people have families who vote too. Duh.
The funny part is that most of them used to be Democrats. Double oops.
Wow, they’re early for the first time in two years! I guess I can’t send Robert Stack’s name to the IRS whistleblower program to get my quarterly bonus for reporting a violation of 26 USC 6039G. I’ll have to find another source of funds to hide in my enormous offshore tax haven bank account.
No renunciant/relinquisher mentioned in a 2014 media report has yet appeared in the FR. The ones of whom I am aware: Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, Ghanaian Deputy Finance Minister Mona Helen Kabuki Quartey, Glen Lee Roberts who says he made himself stateless and posted a CLN on his website, a woman who naturalised in the Federated States of Micronesia, and an NCO in the Taiwanese Army.
Out of 2013 media reports which named people giving up US citizenship, the same three from last time (about 25% of all reports) remain missing: Camillo Gonsalves (St Vincent & the Grenadines), René González (Cuba), and Fauzia Kasuri (Pakistan).
Sadly, my name is not on this list either. 🙁
Every time I hear any justification of FATCA I want to just stick a grenade in that individual’s mouth. I certainly wish to grenade the Democrstic party for initiating this legislation and they will certainly pay dearly for FATCA at the election booth. Considering voter turnout that should equate to at least 2 million votes for the Republicans. Much less for Dems. This is a one issue election for the expats and let’s hope Republicans keep to their word and put FATCA in the trash bin.
Another renunciation article, comments open:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-25/hundreds-give-up-u-s-passports-after-new-tax-rules-start.html
Interesting in the WSJ comments how many who live in the US who expressed an interest in leaving because they don’t like the direction that the US is going in.
http://www.nestmann.com/expatriation-statistics/#.VEtv4tEcTIU
old article stating that the statistics are a fabrication
I find the following sentence dishonest in the extreme:
“Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world.”
Most countries tax their Tax Residents on income they earn anywhere in the world …. the difference is that the US broadens the base from tax Residents to Citizens (and other US Persons) no matter where in the word they are Resident. Why does this confusion persist in articles in supposedly respected media.
@nervousinvestor
That statement inaccurracy is pretty typical of the media…
This on Bloomberg news…
Wow, those people really don’t understand at all why people are renouncing citizenship in record numbers. Lazear immediately changed the subject, saying “the real problem is the movement of capital, not people.” They all seemed to think that it’s mostly rich tax evaders who are leaving the U.S. because of FATCA and then renouncing their citizenship. The seem to have no clue that the people renouncing citizenship have already been living outside the U.S. and mostly have citizenship in other countries and have been away for a long time. Renunciation is just the last, often reluctant, step of people exasperated with the compliance expenses and unwarranted extra taxation of U.S. CBT, topped off the the recent introduction of FATCA.
This piece is just another example of how clueless and inwardly focused U.S. Homelanders are!
It makes me wonder: If these people are so misinformed about this issue, how much do they really know about other issues that they comment on?
Sorry for the typos. Also, my comment is on the video that was posted by Just Me.
@Anonanon
Is there any research done into how many expats there were in 2000 say compared to 2014? Have people been moving out of America without us knowing in the past decade? Maybe that could account for “movement of capital”. Americans leave and take their money with them, earn their money elsewhere. Especially if the people leaving are talented. Exactly how many americans have taken jobs abroad lately?
@AnonAnon,
If as we expect that the vast majority of people renouncing don’t have much money and don’t earn that much then that really is a small problem for the US. They have a huge influx of high earners in the tech industry. A million people a year I thought naturalized.
It looks bad for the US and they are killing the little guy and Obama is all about the little guy.
Citizens renouncing makes the Obama administration look bad. It shows that being a citizen of the United States is losing value.
@Polly, I don’t know if there any data sources for people simply taking up residence outside the U.S. without relinquishing citizenship. Anyway, in the video Lazear switched from individuals to corporations, and I think the complaint about capital flow from the U.S. refers to corporate capital rather than (or more so than) individual capital, with a few high-profile exceptions like that Facebook guy that emigrated.
What gets U.S. pundits and politicians worked up seems to be (a) wealthy “tax cheats” who live in the U.S. and hide money abroad, and (b) U.S. multinational corporations that move capital outside the U.S. to take advantage of more favourable tax laws elsewhere. Meanwhile, the IRS is quietly and systematically extracting all the money it can from ordinary U.S. citizens who live outside the U.S., out of the awareness of most U.S. homelanders.
@Eric
The CLN that Glen Lee Roberts posted on his website is an odd one.
The stamp in the upper right says “Approved American Embassy Asuncion” I understood that all CLNs had to be approved by the department of state not the local embassy. The stamp also looks like a generic approved stamp whereas every other one that I have seen has a CLN specific stamp there.
Does anyone know it this is a change in policy or a one off example, perhaps because it took 15 months from the oath to the certificate.
@JustACanadian, I read something somewhere along the lines that the CLN is approved in Washington who then notifies the Embassy/Consulate.
What might be happening is that Washington lets the Embassy date stamp it when they are told its approved. So the approval remains in Washington but they do not snail mail/bag it.
Just a theory…..
I received the CLN I posted on my website (with the signature of the vice consul and seal of the United States on it), less the “approved” stamp, immediately after the Oath.
I was called back to the Embassy on Sept 14, 2014 (15+ months later) and the “approved” stamp was placed on the CLN. The clerk said it was dated Sept 2, 2014 because that is the date “Washington approved it.”
I was also given back an original copy of all the documents I had signed (two originals were made on the Oath day). I have published a copy of all those documents in the book I wrote about my experience and the process.
The name of the county where you were born is misspelt on the CLN.
http://www.ewashtenaw.org/
Did you think you could get that past ME?
Glen Lee Roberts,
I presume you are the same “Glen Roberts” who posted comment
Glen Roberts • a day ago
to which I commented http://www.cnbc.com/id/102141113#comment-1664767005 and asked you a question, not answered? Could you answer here?
Do you reside in Paraguay or are you in the U.S. right now? I presume you are no longer in possesion of a U.S. passport?
My Certificate of Loss of Nationality differs from yours.
Besides being approved with stamp “Certificate of Loss of Nationality, Approved on (1/2/13) by Overseas Citizen Services”,
Embassy Consulate line refers to the fact that it is a Consulate General of the United States of America at Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
State or Country includes “United States of America”
That: he/she resides at: includes my FULL physical address, including city, province, postal code. (I presume the redact is your physical residence.)
The action causing expatriation, set forth succinctly says “renounced her United States nationality on November 14, 2012″ under the provisions of Section INA 349(a)(5) of
(The nationality Act of 1940)* (The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as amended); i.e. which is yours / can’t be both.The evidence of such action consists of the following: That attached to and made part of this certificate are the following documents or copies thereof: OATH OF RENUNCIATION TAKEN ON NOVEMBER 12, 2012
The Title of the Signator shows “CONSUL” not the spelling of the name of the Consul who signed.
These differences are in addition to the misspelling of the county in which you were born, already pointed out.
Just wondering why all the differences.
Could you answer here?
I missed your question there and am not sure that is a site that one can really have a discussion admist all the comments flying around.
Do you reside in Paraguay or are you in the U.S. right now?
I have resided in Paraguay for a number of years and have not visited the US in over a decade.
I presume you are no longer in possesion of a U.S. passport? The day I took the Oath, I received a CLN (without the “approved” stamp but with the signature and seal), my US passport was also canceled at that time.
I am of course, not in a position to explain differences in the CLN’s. Yes, the redact is my complete physical address. The scan doesn’t show the seal. I have scanned copies with and without the approved stamp.
I do think that you might be able to count on the fingers of one hand the number of renunciations that are handled by the Consulate here in an entire year. In Canada, I am sure the numbers are significantly higher.
The original appointed I scheduled was delayed about a week. I had set an appointment for “other” under their online system and then emailed with the reason for my appointment and received this response: “Thanks for contacting us. I am glad you wrote us about your appointment for renouncement as I am in charge of American Citizen Services and will be out on a training this week’s afternoons. The person covering me has probably never done a renunciation before. Do you think we can reschedule you for next week? Also, it is a more than a day process, so you will need two different appointments and there should be a space time of at least a week between them, considering that it is a serious decision, as you said.”
@Glen Roberts
Your Youtube video “renunciation in 2 easy steps” video is great! It will certainly help out a lot of expats who are still fearful of the renunciation process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FouWwfmW3U0
I suspect many more expats will be renouncing even without having a second passport. If people are willing to pay money get rid of US citizenship without having another passport, what does that say about the value of the US citizenship for expats?
PS. Congratulations on your CLN.